


running from a place where they don't make people like me

by crashing_meteors



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Burns, Childhood Friends, Death, Earth Kingdom (Avatar), F/M, Family, Fire Nation (Avatar), Friends to Lovers, Graphic Description of Corpses, Growing Up, Near Death Experiences
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:41:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26315092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crashing_meteors/pseuds/crashing_meteors
Summary: Song wakes up late in the night after the worst day of her life to the sounds of a weeping little boy, hauls herself up on a freshly-damaged leg, and does her very best to help. She's only a little girl herself, and her very best is all she can do.-In which Jet is taken in by Song and her mother when the Fire Nation kills his parents, and how they manage after.
Relationships: Jet & Song (Avatar), Jet/Song (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	running from a place where they don't make people like me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title from Rainbow Kitten Surprise’s “Hide”.

When the Fire Nation attacks their village, the first thing Ji-Min is aware of is the heat.

They all knew it was coming, in a way, but denial is a funny thing. Whispers trickle through their village in a steady stream. A traveling merchant spotted an enemy camp, earthbenders have been disappearing along the high path, a neighboring village has been reduced to rubble. Some leave, but most stay, not willing to leave the place they have spent their whole lives in, have raised their children to love. Still, many families have packs by their doors, filled with necessities and valuables, just in case.

Ji-Min wants to leave but feels obligated to stay - as the leading healer in her village, she knows she's needed. Her daughter, however, is only eight years old, too young to be an orphan, and much too young to die. She tells her beloved husband as much.

"And you expect me to leave you, is that it?" he asks her in his slow voice, lips drawn in a playful smile.

"My love, please," she says, taking his hand. "Be reasonable. We'll never get out in time waiting around for you."

"Low blow," he says laughing, patting at the place on his hip where his leg used to be, before an accident from their younger years.

"But if you go now," she continues as though uninterrupted, "you can get out before it's too late. Go to Omashu, they'll grant you refuge."

"And if we're lucky, we won't run into any soldiers along the way," he agrees. "Or bandits, child-nappers, wayward spirits..."

"Shiming, please" she says again, the knot in her throat tightening quite against her will. "I love you both so much. If you get away, you at least stand a chance."

"You talk as if they're already here!" Shiming says, laughing again. "Don't I deserve a say? I can still fight, you know. If the Fire Nation comes, I'd like to defend my village if that's alright with you."

"What about our daughter?" Ji-Min asks him. Finally, Shiming's face changes to something resembling severity.

"I won't let anything happen to her," he says firmly. And then, covering her hand, he says, "And I know you won't either."

So they stay, and they pack their bag like every other family, and if Shiming is practicing his earthbending more than he has in years, well, that's a comfort. And because Ji-Min is not a stupid woman, she is not surprised when the attack finally happens. Instead, she faces it with grim acceptance.

The noon sun is high above when they come, and most are eating lunch. They arrive at the village gate, which is little more than an archway, and a few families flee out into the hills. Ji-Min would later discover that many of these families were killed in the fires that the soldiers set. A few leave their houses to observe the soldiers. Some stay inside to hold their children close. Many families, however, like Ji-Min and Shiming, have homes nestled around corners and in small valleys, and don't even know the soldiers are here. It is said, however, when they first arrived, they asked for a village elder, to negotiate terms of surrender.

What passed between the old man and the Fire Nation captain, no one knew for certain. But in the weeks leading up to the invasion, despite the fear and the running, the general consensus was, the people wanted to fight.

The old man is the first casualty in the battle for the village.

After that, it's chaos. So for Ji-Min, the first thing she knows is heat, and the second is a fireball in the sky directed a few houses away from theirs.

"Shiming," she says grimly, gathering up her herbs and medicines.

"I know," he says, handing her their daughter, whose pale round face is streaming with tears already. "I'll get you to the healing house, and then I'm going to join the others."

He pauses at the door and turns around to look at his little family.

"There won't be time for goodbyes," he tells them, and Ji-Min thinks there isn't really time now, either, but she knows he what he means. They may not get a moment like this again.

Shiming kisses his daughter's face, making loud "mwah" noises as he does, eliciting a laugh or two through the tears.

"Please don't go," says the little girl, and he cups her cheek.

"We'll see each other again," he tells her, before turning to look at his wife.

"Be strong," she tells him.

"You too," he says. He kisses her briefly, and squeezes her hand. They have a language, all on their own, so strong that words pale in comparison.

He opens the door.

-

-

-

It's evening by the time the sounds of battle cease, but the screams only grow louder, no longer drowned out by bending. The sobbing people in the healing house are loudest of all. Ji-Min has no idea how many people she's treated - after eight dead, she stopped counting because it was making her nauseous, and the last thing her people needed was a healer with a weak stomach.

Lying beside her all the while and occupying most of her thoughts, however, is her daughter. The journey from their home to the healing house had been frightening, but they had made it in one piece, thanks to the shields of earth her husband had provided. Shiming ran off, just as he said he would, and Ji-Min had put her daughter down, just for a minute, just to shove open the old door that so often got stuck, when suddenly there was a blood-curdling shriek.

Her daughter had collapsed, and her right leg was covered in a pale spiral, swelling more by the second. A firebender was flicking flames the way a ringmaster cracks his whip, and he seemed to be doing it with no real goal in mind, apart from destruction and violence. The sight rooted Ji-Min to the spot, shocked, until her brain caught up with her,

Ji-Min was still cursing herself for the time (three seconds at most) it took her to react, long after the leg had been treated and wrapped, and her daughter had been given a sleeping draught. But mostly, she was cursing herself for failing Shiming so quickly after he had trusted her with their most precious gift.

"Mother?" comes a small voice as Ji-Min is busy attempting to wrap an elderly woman’s midriff.

"Don't move, darling," Ji-Min tells her daughter without looking. "I'll help you in a moment,"

Even as she says it, Ji-Min hears stirring behind her. She gives the old woman an apologetic look, and turns to her daughter.

"Song," Ji-Min says sharply, staring daggers at the girl, who has propped herself up on her elbows. Song looks down, blushing.

"I'm sorry, Mother," Song says. "It's just - my leg doesn't hurt so much."

Ji-Min grimaces. The less pain, the worse the burn.

"Does it hurt at all?" she asks in her best imitation of a woman who is not terrified.

"Yes, but-"

"Then stay right where you are, and don't move," Ji-Min tells her, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. The leg may be salvageable.

"May I sit up, please?" Song asks politely, still on her elbows, a little smile on her face. Ji-Min feels a swell of affection - _so like your father _, she thinks. She does not say this, however - Song does not seem to remember what has happened. The flimsy privacy screen may be the only thing keeping her from the truth.__

__"Fine, but let me help you," Ji-Min relents, pulling her up by her shoulders and letting her good leg dangle off the table. She thanks the stars her daughter practically grew up in the healing house, since she does not seem put off by the moans of agony all around them._ _

__Ji-Min returns to her patient, who thankfully has only been singed, and finishes dressing her wound._ _

__"You may stay," she tells her, "but you may not sit, or ask the healers for anything. There’s not enough room, and we are far too busy."_ _

__"I'll be moving on," the old woman says, sliding less-than-gracefully off the table. "The worst of it seems to have passed."_ _

__Ji-Min wishes her luck, reminds Song to stay put, and exits to the main room for her next patient, when there's a particularly loud thump at the door._ _

__Everyone jumps, even Ji-Min, and a few scream. Ji-Min hushes them._ _

__"The Fire Nation doesn't knock," she says sternly, before opening the door._ _

__There, slumped against the jutting frame of the old door, is a what Ji-Min guesses is a woman, but she is almost too burned to tell. She moves something stump-like, which is probably her arm, and pulls at a bundle of fabric. A little boy, about Song's age, is unconscious within._ _

__The woman opens the maw where her mouth was, tries to speak, and fails, but Ji-Min knows without question what the woman was saying: Please._ _

__Ji-Min scoops up the boy, and what's left of the woman's skin falls off as she does. Smoke is still coming off her hands, pieces of which are stuck to the blanket the boy is in. Again, Ji-Min finds herself in shock - even with all she's seen, there's never been anyone like this, before. No one alive, anyway. As though outside her body, Ji-Min takes in what used to be her village for the first time. Most of it is rubble, though a few buildings near the one she's in still stand. Smoke curls over the ground in thick tendrils. The sky is a brilliant red, and Ji-Min imagines that to anyone beyond the village, it looks beautiful._ _

__Then the woman slumps forward, dead, breaking the reverie. With the boy in one arm, Ji-Min drags the woman's body by her clothes to the side of the house, so that it does not block the doorway. She bends down, whispers a promise to the dead woman, and brings the boy inside._ _

__When she gets to her station, Song is making her best effort to look like she wasn't peeking, but the troubled expression on her daughter's face gives her away._ _

__Ji-Min places the boy on the table, and as the blanket falls away, she spots a deep, ugly welt just over his heart. His breathing is faint - no telling how much smoke he'd inhaled already. He'll live, Ji-Min tells herself bitterly, insistently, but it won't be pretty._ _

__"Song," she says, taking out globs of the same foul-smelling ointment she'd used on her daughter hours earlier and spreading it over the boy's burn, "what are you thinking of?"_ _

__"Father," Song says sadly. "Before we left home."_ _

__Ah. As Ji-Min suspected, she remembers._ _

__"You're being very brave," Ji-Min tells her, wiping off the excess ointment once it has set, and repeating the process. "Very brave, and very strong."_ _

__"I want to be like you," Song replies, and even as she says it, Ji-Min can hear the quiver in her voice. Ji-Min puts a heap of ointment on the boy, and then turns to her kind, gentle daughter while she waits for the medicine to settle in._ _

____Don't be like me, love _ _, Ji-Min thinks. _ _Don't be cold _ _.__________

_____ _

______"Thank you, darling," Ji-Min says instead. "But you don't have to be. You can cry if you'd like. Crying is strong, too. It shows the strength of your heart, like your father."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Song cries, softly, and Ji-Min reaches under the table to give her daughter her stuffed pygmy-puma, which Shiming has been smart enough to pack in with their essentials. She embraces her daughter for a moment, kisses her forehead, and then turns back to the task at hand._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Ji-Min works on the boy for the next hour, before eventually wrapping his chest with gauze. She doesn't sedate him; his breathing is labored enough without the help of medication. No, she'll wait until he settles, or until he stirs some, before she does anything else. Even if he wakes, she’s not sure it’s worth risking slowing his heart. For now, she places a few pillows under his head to open his airways, and lets him rest._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______She calls in another healer to help her move Song to a set of cushions beside her station. As they adjust her leg, Song cries out in pain, and Ji-Min rejoices again - pain is feeling, after all._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______The battle may be over, but the bodies keep coming, some far more horrific than the boy. She looks to Song before one particularly gruesome patient and tilts her head in question. Song shakes her head and settles deeper into her pillow. In that moment, Ji-Min is overcome with pride. Even today, this most horrific of days, Song stays, and is brave for people she doesn't even know._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______They're both natural healers, Ji-Min knows, but in entirely different ways. Ji-Min is grateful. Loving Song is easy. She knows it wasn't as easy with her, for her mother._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______It's late, well past midnight, when Ji-Min goes to look for another patient and finds none. Everyone still in the house has been treated, and though they're worse for wear, they're stable for now. There's doubtless more wounded in the village, trapped or afraid to leave their homes. She knows she'll have to lead a search team when the day comes, but for now she looks over those in the house and checks to see if there's anything that needs taken care of. The day was a long one, filled with violence, and she's certain some wounds will rear their ugly heads again before daybreak._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Sure enough, a young woman whose head was badly burned appears to be seizing in her sleep. Ji-Min calls over a free healer, and they bring her to the closest station. The blackened skin is oozing pus, and before she knows it Ji-Min has her hands full with another emergency case._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Song, meanwhile, awakens to a sharp cry. She looks around for her mother, and when Ji-Min does not appear, she clutches her plush closer to her chest. There's another cry like before, and then all at once, someone is letting out violent, anguished sobs. The sound snaps Song awake, and she realizes that it’s coming from beside her._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______She moves to stand with such suddenness, her body forgets for the barest of seconds that it’s been through extreme trauma - it's just long enough to get her partially off the ground before the pain, white-hot, shoots up her leg._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Song feels the welts the firebender left, pulsing violently on her leg. She bites her tongue so hard it bleeds. Gripping the wall, she drags herself over to the table where the boy is convulsing, crying so hard it wracks his entire body._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Shh," Song says uselessly, leaning on the table for support, using her left leg to hold herself up so as to take the weight off her injured one. "Shh, it's alright."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______The boy ignores her, or can't hear her over himself, and continues to cry, coughing thickly at times. His pillows have fallen to the ground, so he's lying flat on his back. Gingerly, she reaches out to hold his hand, but he hardly seems to notice, coughing harder until Song is certain he's choking. She shuffles around the table until she's directly behind his head, and just in time, because he turns and wretches, throwing up black gunk._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Song panics - she knows he needs to breathe, but he's crying again and all that does is start the process all over. But she can't do much with her stupid leg, which is screaming in pain all the while._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______In a desperate move, Song leans her chest on the table, places one hand on the boy's sweaty forehead, the other on his shoulder, and leans her head down so she's near his ear. She whispers hurriedly, telling him he's safe, that she's not going to hurt him, begging him as gently as she can to calm down. After what seems like forever, his sobs subside into small coughs. Song breathes, and at that moment her left leg, which has been supporting most of her weight, wobbles._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______She slips onto her bad leg, and yells loudly, right in the boy's ear. It startles him so much, he sits up, and brings her with him._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"You're choking me," the boy coughs out, gripping at the hand which has slipped from his forehead to his neck. Her other hand has a vice grip on his shoulder._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"S-sorry," she says, not even sure what she's apologizing for because the pain has whited out her vision and most of her hearing._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"'S'okay," he says, as he manages to remove her hand, which sends them flying backwards with Song's weight. She yells again, and drops to the floor, blessedly falling on her left side._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______The boy turns around to look at her in bewilderment. As her vision returns, Song notes the snot and vomit still lining his face, and she hates how sick she feels looking at it._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______He scrambles off the table and crouches at her side._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"I didn't know you were hurt," he says, offering his hands. Song shakes her head at him._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"I don't think I should get up again," she tells him. "And you're hurt, too. You shouldn't be up."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"I'm fine," he says, but his body betrays him with a series of intense coughs._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Just get back on the table," Song begs him, handing him the pillows, which are miraculously not covered in vomit, "and put these under your head."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Are you just going to stay on the floor?" he asks her. Song looks to her bed of cushions, and realizes it seems a long way away after her misadventure. The boy follows her gaze._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Let me help you," he says, placing the pillows on the table and offering his hands again. Reluctantly, Song takes them. The boy pulls her up, taking care to hoist her by her left side. She wraps an arm around his shoulders, and he all but drags her over to the cushions. Song collapses into them, and the boy leans back against the table, facing her. His face is still a mess, but he doesn't seem to even notice._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"I didn't know there were other kids around," he tells her urgently, but all Song can think about is why he won't just get on the table and go back to sleep._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"I help my mother," Song tells him. "You really should lie back down."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Are you going to tell anyone?" the boy asks her seriously. He looks very nervous. Song just stares at him._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"That I...that I was crying?" the boy asks. Oh._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Of course not," Song says. "I don't even know who you are. Also, you should wash your face. It's filthy."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______The words are out before Song can stop herself, and she throws her hands over her mouth. The boy reaches up, and his fingers come away sticky._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"I'm so sorry," Song says to him. "I'm so tired, I didn't mean to-" But the boy just laughs._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"It is filthy," he says. "Boy, my mom's gonna-"_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______He stops talking suddenly and freezes in his spot. Song wishes she knew what to say, or how to help in, but she comes up short._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Is...is she why you were crying?" Song asks, and as she does, tears fill his eyes again._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"It's okay," she says, panicking once more, because that was an awfully personal thing to ask, stupid Song. "It's okay, you're okay."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Just when he seems on the verge of sobbing, her mother comes back, thank the stars._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"What are you doing up?" Ji-Min asks the boy sharply, and he lets out a wail. Song watches her mother's expression soften, as though she had forgotten who she was speaking to._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Hush, now," Ji-Min murmurs, scooping the boy up effortlessly and placing him on the table. She hurries to a pitcher of water and some clean rags on a nearby stool, and begins cleaning the boy's face._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"M-mom," the boy sobs, and Song feels herself begin to cry against her will. She's never seen someone her age so sad. "I need my - where's my mom?"_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Hush, hush," murmurs Ji-Min, wrapping him in a tender embrace. He cries into her dress, and Song does her best to cry into her own shirt, not wanting to detract from the boy's pain._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"I'm going to take care of you, now," Ji-Min says. "You're safe."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______The boy cries himself out, until Ji-Min can eventually lay him down. She pets his forehead for a while, singing a lullaby Song recognizes. It calms Song, too, and her tears eventually subside._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Eventually, the boy's breathing slows some, and Ji-Min makes her way over to Song._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Well, darling," Ji-Min says gently, adjusting Song's leg and examining her bandages. "I can see someone's been walking around."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"I'm sorry, Mother," Song says, hanging her head. "It's just the boy, he woke up, he was so sick, I was afraid-"_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Don't you ever apologize for trying to help someone else," Ji-Min tells her firmly, wrapping her leg with new bandages, not daring to remove the old ones. "I'm not happy about your leg, but then I'm not happy about many things today. At least I have a girl as wonderful as you."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Song waits until her mother is done adjusting her leg, until after she takes her sleeping draught, and then throws her arms around her. Ji-Min returns the embrace but swallows her tears. She will not be weak, not now, when Song has been so strong._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Try and get some sleep, darling," Ji-Min tells her daughter, cupping her pale face with her hands. "We have a long day ahead."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Ji-Min leaves to return to her duties, and Song lays down on her makeshift bed._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Jet," comes a quiet voice. Song turns her head towards the boy on the table, who up until now she believed was asleep._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"What was that?" Song asks him._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"You said you don't know who I am," the boy says. "My name is Jet."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Oh," she says. "I'm Song. Thank you for helping me over to the cushions, before."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Yeah," he says. "Same here."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______They are quiet for a few minutes, but she does not hear his breathing get any slower._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"I won't tell anyone," she tells him. "Even though I know your name. But only if you don't tell anyone I fell on you."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Twice," Jet reminds her. She rolls her eyes._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Yes, twice," she agrees._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Deal," Jet tells her._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Okay," Song says, biting her lip before blurting out, "also it’s – my mother says it’s brave to cry. It, um, it shows the strength of your heart.”_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______“I guess so,” Jet says thoughtfully. “I just don’t like doing it in front of other kids.”_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______“Why?” Song asks him. She cries in front of other people all the time. Jet makes a noncommittal noise._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______“I don’t know. It’s babyish, I guess,” he finally answers._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______“I don’t think you’re babyish,” Song tells him. She thinks he’s kinda gross, but not babyish._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______“Thanks,” Jet replies. “I don’t think you’re babyish, either.”_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______They lie in a companionable silence for a little while._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______“Well, goodnight, Jet," Song finally says awkwardly._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______"Goodnight, Song," says Jet, and as the medicine kicks in, he sounds worlds away. "See you tomorrow."_ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Tomorrow feels as though it's right next to the word impossible, but sure enough, the sun rises, and the new day comes. When Song wakes up, it's from a nightmare that Jet had died while she slept. She sits up and listens, and breathes a sigh of relief when she can make out his breathing, much deeper than the night before._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______He's strange, this messy boy with messy hair, and a burn mark seared over his heart, and he's very sad. But her mother had said she'd take care of him, and her mother doesn't lie, so Song supposes she'll have to get used to him._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Jet turns, opening his eyes only to catch her staring at him. He sends her a sleepy smile, and Song returns it._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

______Maybe, she thinks, he won't be so bad._ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ji-Min (pronounced chee-meen) is a Korean name that can mean different things, depdending on its spelling. Ji can be either 志, meaning "will, purpose, ambition", or 智, meaning "wisdom, intellect". Min can be either 旼, meaning "gentle, affable", or 敏, meaning "quick, clever, sharp". Ji-Min's parents, who I picture as being wealthy herbalists, called her 智旼, meaning "Wise and Gentle". When she marries Shiming, however, against her parents' will, she begins spelling her name, 志敏, so as to mean "Willful and Sharp". 
> 
> Shiming (pronounced shuzh-meeng) is a Chinese name, that, similarly, can have different meanings, but Shiming is a little less dramatic than his wife, so he's happy with one. However, I still find all meanings important. Shi can be either 市, meaning "city, town, market", or 世, meaning "world, generation, era." Ming can be either 明, meaning "bright, light, clear", or 铭, meaning "inscribe, engrave". Shiming spells his name 市明, meaning "City Lights" or "Light of the City", which is important back where he and Ji-Min originally come from. Ji-Min loves her husband's name.
> 
> Song, when I've researched it, is usually a masculine Chinese name meaning "pine trees", so I'm instead going to take it for its English meaning, especially considering the show is in English. Ji-Min has a lovely singing voice, which is where Shiming gets the idea to name their daughter this.
> 
> I'm taking Jet, similarly, in its English form, meaning either a spurting stream or a shade of black. I particularly like the shade of black reference, since Jet so often sees things in black and white. I'd like to play with that idea some in this fic. Morals are admirable, but hard lines make for dangerous territory (as we see in the show). Hopefully having a family will change that a little. We'll see.


End file.
